Neck breaker Chiropractic

In the recent past chiropractic has fallen under criticism. What is the truth?

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If chiropractic became a medicine, it would be taken off the market, because it has little proven benefit and it has some serious side effects. In spite of these facts, practitioners, doctors and naturopaths are drawn to the idea because they can earn a lot of money in only a few minutes by using it.

Daniel David Palmer (1845 - 1913), the founder of chiropractic had various jobs over the course of his life, such as bartending, teaching and owning a grocery. He was also a magnetic healer. Following his work as magnetic healer, he founded the chiropractic. After successfully treating his deaf caretaker Harvey Lillard, Harvey was able to hear again. Palmer believed that 99% of all illnesses were treatable with chiropractic. He made incredible statements that chiropractor’s today do not like hearing about.  One of these statements includes the D.D. Palmer founding story which goes as follows:

 “Harvey Lillard, a janitor, in the Ryan Block, where I had my office, had been so deaf for 17 years that he could not hear the racket of a wagon on the street or the ticking of a watch. I made inquiry as to the cause of his deafness and was informed that when he was exerting himself in a cramped, stooping position, he felt something give way in his back and immediately became deaf. An examination showed a vertebra racked from its normal position. I reasoned that if that vertebra had an adjustment, the man's hearing should be restored. With this object in view, a half-hour's talk persuaded Mr. Lillard to allow me to put his vertebra in its proper place. I racked it into position by using the spinous process as a lever and soon the man could hear as before. There was nothing "accidental" about this, as it was accomplished with an object in view, and the result expected was obtained.”(Source: Wikipedia).

Chiropractors work to alleviate such "subluxations" (minimal dislocations) in the spinal joints which will thus normalize the pressure on the spinal nerves or on the spinal cord. A process which may cause problems due to defects of the treatment technique, which are substantially ineffective and dangerous for the patients. Other treatments, such as physiotherapy, will not have much success either, but are at least free from the great risk of chiropractic.

Static considerations

Chiropractors treat pain sections affecting the spine, but each one isolated. Take, for example, a sore neck, where only the cervical spine gets attention. For pain and restricted movement of the lower back, the lumbar spine will be treated. There are also isolated treatments for the affected portions of the thoracic spine. If you were to compare the spinal column to a tower, the sick spine resembles the "Leaning Tower" of Pisa, and with further examination the absurdity of this approach arises. In comparing the cervical spine to the example of the tower, the upper floors would be "straightened" first?! Any construction worker would see that as a foolish idea and would first require corrections in the foundations. Leaning towers, such as the one in Pisa have to be fixed from below. "From the bottom" means that the invisible foundations below ground have priority and must be straightened first.

If a chiropractor learns from these considerations and in an example of a sore neck, decides to begin the treatment first with the lumbar vertebrae, followed by the thoracic vertebrae and then subsequently treat the cervical spine that would certainly be the best way to approach the problem. But they will still encounter difficulties because the foundation located below the lumbar spine was not included in their treatment. 

The foundation of the spinal column

The foundation of the spinal column is the pelvic girdle, which is formed by the two iliac wings and the sacrum. Located between the two iliac wings are barely movable joints, called the iliac-sacral joints (ISG). These joints don't have any official function. They are considered immobile although in fact, they do have smaller movements around three axes and simultaneously as well. In case of disturbance, these movements no longer occur which leads to what is considered a pelvic tilt or a twisted pelvic.

If a chiropractor learns from these considerations and in an example of a sore neck, decides to begin the treatment first with the lumbar vertebrae, followed by the thoracic vertebrae and then subsequently treat the cervical spine that would certainly be the best way to approach the problem. But they will still encounter difficulties because the foundation located below the lumbar spine was not included in their treatment. 

The foundation of the spinal column

The foundation of the spinal column is the pelvic girdle, which is formed by the two iliac wings and the sacrum. Located between the two iliac wings are barely movable joints, called the iliac-sacral joints (ISG). These joints don't have any official function. They are considered immobile although in fact, they do have smaller movements around three axes and simultaneously as well. In case of disturbance, these movements no longer occur which leads to what is considered a pelvic tilt or a twisted pelvic.

The consequences of immobility and twisting of the pelvis extend over the whole spinal column and treatments are only useful if all the misalignments are corrected in all vertebral joints. When the spinal column is treated by sections only, the untreated parts will steer against the treated ones. Progress in treatments will therefore be undone in a short time. This results in endless treatments, and freedom from the symptoms often only occurs when the organism is able to help itself despite treatment.

Blind Chirotherapists

Since the existing malfunctions of the pelvis and across the whole spinal column don't appear symptomatically, this means that not every misalignment necessarily results in pain. Chiropractic stalls due to insurmountable difficulties to locate misalignments. The reason for the stall is that they do not have a reliable method of location. Although radiographs are taken they are merely in order to exclude the risk of the treatment by malignant bone diseases, fractures, etc. The picture above, for instance shows neck pain and movement restrictions. Misalignments of the vertebral joints are suspected in the affected area (Red marks in the picture). But a precise control, however, does not exist and the inevitable compensations situated below  (black mark) are not considered for treatment. The chiropractic suffers from these misapprehensions and therefore frequent treatments with the duration of only a few minutes, in daily distance are performed over longer periods. This takes place until either the symptoms have improved despite treatment or the patient is convinced of the incurable nature of his illness. As a result in English-speaking countries such as the USA and Canada, etc. the strongholds of Chiropractic, there are many people who firmly believe that lower back pain is a normal part of life.

Violent Chirotherapists

Quite often chiropractic treatments are conducted using remarkable force. The reason for such force is associated in locating the problem with the already mentioned questionable technique. It is also in the patient's desire to hear a distinctly loud crack during straightening. This cracking sound is considered important, even though the sound is generated by the violent separation of the vertebral joint surfaces. It roughly equates to the cracking of finger joints. The perceived effect is likely to just be psychological. Inadequate large amounts of force act on the lower and middle portions of the spinal column, but it is rarely harmful. Sometimes however, with the treatment of these spinal segments, serious side effects such as paraplegia are known to occur.
The cervical spine consists of extremely delicate and sensitive parts. Repeatedly complications arise and damage occurs. Nerve deficiency and numbness of the arms and hands appear quite frequently after chiropractic repositions. Further rough treatments of the cervical spine can cause persistent nausea and dizziness. There are also dangerous complications which can occur when injuries to the blood vessels cause formations of blood clots. This can lead to a fatal stroke. “Such complications are indeed rare”, this claim comes from within the ranks of Chiro's, but it must not be taken for granted because the number of unreported cases is unspecified. Undetected damage also causes complications which occur much later after treatment and the connection between the two is not recognized.

The Diagnostics basis "Auriculotherapy“

For functional diagnostics of the spine I use the tools of "Auricolotherapie". It is a method that was founded by a French physician named Dr. Paul Nogier. Auricolotherapie is not scientifically recognized but has proved in practice to be extremely useful. The lack of scientific recognition is something that chiropractic and auriculotherapy have in common.

The ear is subsequently the reflection point for the equilateral half of the body and disorders of internal organs and the body joints as well as the spine form pressure-sensitive areas at the appropriate location of the auricle. Pressure sensitivities are reduced immediately after successful treatment. As I have experience with using it for decades, I consider this an effective therapeutic control.

The origin of Auricolotherapie is not generally believed to be in China, but the Near East region where treatments of the auricle are part of folk medicine. A topic that deserves its own separate article.

Summary:

If chiropractic became a drug, it would be taken off the market because it has little proven benefit and has serious side effects.

by Klaus Radloff

translated by Gabriela Christ